{"id":24869,"date":"2023-06-08T11:08:14","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T10:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nkyeremunews.com\/?p=24869"},"modified":"2023-06-08T11:08:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T10:08:14","slug":"tunisian-black-women-my-skin-colour-says-i-dont-belong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nkyeremunews.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/08\/tunisian-black-women-my-skin-colour-says-i-dont-belong\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunisian Black Women: \u2018My Skin Colour Says I Don\u2019t Belong\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Black Tunisian women say they are experiencing more instances of racism after the country’s president criticised sub-Saharan migrants.<\/p>\n

“In Tunisia people are always questioning the fact that I’m Tunisian,” says activist Khawla Ksiksi, a black Tunisian citizen.<\/p>\n

In February, President Kais Saied ordered “urgent measures” against sub-Saharan migrants, accusing them of a “criminal plot” to change the country’s demographics and cultural identity.<\/p>\n

He went on to say that immigration came from “a desire to make Tunisia just another African country and not a member of the Arab and Islamic world”.<\/p>\n

There has since been a rise in violence against black African migrants, according to Human Rights Watch, and the statement has only made the situation worse for black Tunisians, who make up between 10-15% of the Tunisian population, according to official figures.<\/p>\n

This number includes some who are descendants of sub-Saharan African slaves – the slave trade was abolished in Tunisia nearly 180 years ago – while others trace their origins much further back.<\/p>\n

Ms Ksiksi tells the BBC she is made to feel invisible: “Sometimes I speak in Arabic and they will answer in French because they don’t want me to be a part of Tunisia.”<\/p>\n

Arabic is Tunisia’s official language, but Ms Ksiksi says she is often rejected when she speaks it, because other people do not want to acknowledge a sense of kinship with her.<\/p>\n

Although French is associated with privilege and education, it is also the language of “outsiders”, and so when people use it to reply to her, they are making it clear they do not think she is Tunisian.<\/p>\n

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